Some changes coming for village intersections

NORTH STONINGTON — TranSystems Corporation, a traffic engineering firm with offices in Hartford and Norwalk, has examined village intersections where residents have reported problems.

The engineers said a three-way stop by the hardware store, where Wyassup Road and Main Street meet, would be helpful, but First Selectman Nicholas H. Mullane II said at a Board of Selectmen meeting earlier this month that there’s no place to put a third stop sign. The state Department of Transportation requires signs to be placed a certain distance off the road, but in the village center, there’s no room.

Another suggestion was to move the stop sign for people heading from Wyassup Road to Main Street next to the white stop bar painted across the road. Some distance between a stop sign and the painted stop line are permissible, Mullane said, but these two are too far apart so the sign will be moved.

“It does make sense to match them up,” Mullane noted.

Engineers also looked at the intersection of Rocky Hollow Road and Main Street. A resident who lives on the corner of the two village roads has complained of dangerous speeding around that corner, and had previously told the selectmen she had seen cars take the corner on two wheels. She had previously requested a stop sign be placed there.

According to Mullane, the engineers said a stop sign would not be advisable. Instead, they said painting a dashed yellow line on the road to define the curve would do a better job of keeping drivers in their lane and doing the speed limit.

“If you delineate the corner in the proper arch, that will make them (drivers) follow that, and then that’ll probably slow them down or get them to track in the lane better,” Mullane said.

He added that the engineers didn’t recommend placing a stop sign there.

“They said they didn’t recommend that there be any more stop signs added there because it’s going to confuse the traffic flow,” he said.

Selectman Mark Donahue said he was “pessimistic” the yellow line would work, but was willing to try it and see.

The selectmen also said they would try putting reflective tape on the existing stop signs.